The town of Southbridge is considering a one-year moratorium on data centers, becoming the third Worcester County community in several months to propose such a pause.
The draft of the moratorium, shared online by Town Councilor Shelley Klein, calls for pausing the permitting, building, expansion, operation and establishment of data centers along with converting other buildings into data centers.
Data centers are facilities housing computer systems, servers and data storage equipment. These centers process, store and distribute digital data and are often used to train and power artificial intelligence tools. In Massachusetts and throughout the United States, there has been a growing backlash to the creation of data centers, with opponents saying they cause pollution, use up natural resources for power and increase electricity rates…